From the runway to your sketchbook: Rendering leather, florals, animal prints, camouflage, stripes, lace, and more!
NYC: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week
Hello and welcome to the University of Fashion blog. As the official launch date of the University of Fashion draws near, we have kept quite busy building up the video library. Students, teachers, business owners, and fashionistas worldwide will gain access to industry professionals via the most amazing and informative online videos covering fashion and design techniques including draping, pattern making, sewing, fashion illustration, and product development. We have also been closely following the Fall/Winter 2012 collections, and thought you may like to know a bit more about how the the University of Fashion keeps in step with current runway trends.
Now that the the shows are over, we have pin-pointed key trends which emerged from fashion capitals: New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Milan. Last week we discussed the near omnipresence of lace on the runway seen at Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford, Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino to name a few. Aside from lace, many design elements focused on use of other unique patterns and textiles. We saw stripes at Burberry Prorsum, John Bartlett, and Armani, animal print at Carlo Tivioli, Betsey Johnson, Versace, and Michael Kors, geometrics at Missoni, Narciso Rodriguez, Celine, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Lacoste, and Yves Saint Laurent, florals at Christopher Kane, Diane Von Furstenberg, Isabel Marant, and Roberto Cavalli, camouflage at Tommy Hilfiger, Umit Benan, and Opening Ceremony, tons of leather and fur at Simonetta Ravizza, Miu Miu, Tom Ford, Viktor and Rolf, and newbie Kanye West, as well as volcano inspired prints at Monique Lhuillier, delightfully stylized cars and flames at Prada, and chili peppers at Dolce and Gabbana.
Female Walking Pose
At the University of Fashion, aside from instructing draping, pattern making, garment construction, and product development, we will also be bring to you exclusive fashion drawing & rendering lessons from experts in the field. Our fashion illustration lessons, taught by fashion designers, instructors, and industry pros will inspire and provide you with the knowledge needed to sketch your own fabulous ideas. Fan Wu will teach you fundamentals such as drawing a male and female fashion croquis as well as numerous other fashion figure poses. He’ll even teach you how to draw kids and tweens! Roberto Calasanz will dazzle you with his lessons on how to render camouflage, fur, floral, leather, stripes, animal prints, lace and more…
Rendering Camouflage
LEARN
Rendering Fur
FROM
Rendering Floral
OUR
Rendering Leather
FASHION
Rendering Stripes
INDUSTRY
Rendering Leopard
PROS…
Rendering Lace
The BEST
in the
BUSINESS !
Yours in Fashion,
Liz
Social Media Director, University of Fashion
About Francesca
Welcome to the University of Fashion blog. My name is Francesca Sterlacci the founder and CEO of the University of Fashion. For years I dreamed of being able to bring the art and craft of fashion design to the masses and not just for those lucky few who can attend one of the best fashion colleges in the world. Although I was one of those lucky few, where a great portfolio was your ticket in, I felt that students weren't always given a fair shake. Over the years I watched as high schools dropped their art program, making it almost impossible for students to get a portfolio together.
My experience working as a fashion designer in the industry for more than 25 years, first for major Seventh Avenue manufacturers and then later with my own eponymous collection collection, I learned that a great portfolio is only one piece of what is needed to be a successful designer. Draping, patternmaking, sewing and product development were equally as important, if not more so, and yet, aspiring students of fashion design had no place to go to learn those skills, except at a fashion school. There had to be an alternative.
As many talented fashion industry craftsman began retiring and as the fashion industry started to move off shore, I began to worry that much of the hands-on art and craft of the industry would become extinct. At the Fashion Institute of Technology, where I taught for 18 years and as chair of the fashion design department there, I saw how hard it was to find teachers who had actual "hands-on" experience in draping , patternmaking, sewing and fashion illustration. Design rooms were becoming rare and CAD had taken over how a sketch got made.
It was time to spring into action! After taking numerous classes in videography and film editing, I set out to find a team of equally dedicated teachers, film editors and videographers to record fashion how-to videos for posterity. By interviewing and selecting only the best instructors, we have put together lessons covering the 5 fashion design disciplines of draping, patternmaking, sewing, fashion illustration, and product development. Each discipline is broken down by skill level: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
My goal is not only to help the aspiring designer get their portfolio together and to get a jump-start on the 5 disciplines, but also to become a video reference library for current students and teachers of fashion, to help re-educate current fashion industry professionals perfect their skills and to bring industry trade secrets to the home sewer and the fashion curious.
Through our corporate affiliate program, our members are introduced to the best dress forms, sewing machines, tools and supplies, fabric, trims and leather resources while they enjoy substantial discounts.
This blog is the first step in getting everyone excited in the University of Fashion website; your go-to resource for all things fashion!. Stay tuned, tell your friends, follow our progress on this blog. We will be launching very soon! Tell us what lessons you'd like to see!
Fashionably Yours,
Francesca
